McLane still confident Astros sale will receive MLB approval

Astros owner Drayton McLane said Thursday he remains confident that Major League Baseball will eventually approve the sale of the team to Jim Crane.

McLane said he has taken no steps toward looking for another buyer, that he came away from a Wednesday night conversation with commissioner Bud Selig convinced that MLB is closing in on approving the $680 million transfer.

The impression left with McLane from the conversation with Selig is that the matter will reach a resolution “in a few days,” which could translate into some time next week. Or not, if the process runs true to form.

“He’s said that before, and I’ve told you that before,” McLane said. “Pretty soon, you’re going to stop believing me.”

When McLane announced the sale agreement in May, he predicted approval would come by July. The timeline changed, McLane and MLB officials said, when the bankruptcy issues afflicting the Los Angeles Dodgers took precedence over the Astros’ sale. MLB pulled the sale approval from the agenda just days before the owners’ August meetings, citing the need for more time to complete the vetting of all the investors.

Last week an official familiar with the process said MLB was investigating charges that Crane engaged in war profiteering and unfair hiring practices of blacks and women. A couple of reports Wednesday suggested moving the Astros from the National League to the American League could be a condition for approval of the sale. McLane said that when he and Crane made the agreement, the move the AL was not “in any way, shape or form” part of the discussion.

“I can’t say whether they’ve approached Jim Crane on that,” McLane said. “I’m just not in that part of the loop.”

At one point, McLane talked about reaching the point having to “move on to something else.” Asked if that might entail restarting the process of finding a buyer, McLane said, “That’s just the frustration coming out.”

“I’m very confident about (the sale),” McLane said. “I’m very optimistic. Jim Crane is going to be a great owner. He’s a Houston person, and he has a large number of investors from Houston.”